The neglected 'Bihari' community in Bangladesh

[B.K.N]

True but BD wont join AIML (Muhajir) led Pakistan if BD local leaders didnt join the ML. For example Krisak Sramik Party was already a big thing in Bengal. They were the first party to reform zamindari system in Bengal. If they didnt join ML, BD may not join Pakistan and stay with India or something. If BD Muslims' rights are to be violated in a newly formed country, no one would bother to join it.

Bangladesh joining Pakistan was a wrong decision it was an unnatural union 2 provinces thousand miles from each other with different languages and culture

 

[Doctor Strange]

What is your founder doing with a muhajir leader then? after years still didn't realize then bangladeshis should not have joined muhajir led ML and its leaders?

As the country is created we have to work under its legal system. Whats new in it. I was talking about common people as refugees with limited access as a citizen. But wealthy, educated, influential people are all ok to contribute as equal citizens or more.

 

[war&peace]

So discriminated, that they even made one COAS. How sad. Now you can self-immolate in peace.

More than one COAS, I think Gen. Mirza Aslam Baig was also muhajir. Not just COAS, current president is also from the so called muhajirs. BTW these muhajirs hate Gangadeshis to the core because their ancestors directly experienced the ugly face of these bhindus. And as per the definition, I'm also muhajir since both my maternal and paternal grandparents migrated from the areas that are now part of Gangadesh.

 

[W.11]

Bangladesh joining Pakistan was a wrong decision it was an unnatural union 2 provinces thousand miles from each other with different languages and culture

appears more like sour grapes, if it was a bad decision as stated, why was east pak/bangladesh not let go pacefully and why military operation was needed?

regards

 

[B.K.N]

appears more like sour grapes, if it was a bad decision as stated, why was east pak/bangladesh not let go pacefully

I am not talking about military operation
Making east and west Pakistan one country was a wrong decision

 

[Pan-Islamic-Pakistan]

More like Gwadar, Quetta, Peshawar, Sialkot, Faisalabad. Places where CPEC are going to need workers/labourers in the future, lets think practically this time and not make the mistake we made with Afghans by putting them in already overpopulated cities.

This is a very bad idea.

The level of hatred between Pukhtoons and Muhajirs (esp Biharis) would never allow that. Places like Quetta have enough problems, such as that with Hazaras, we shouldn’t add more.

Also being from Faisalabad, I know my city would go into open revolt. Besides Lahore, Punjab is fairly conservative and traditional.

They can only ever be accommodated in Karachi, Hyderabad, Islamabad, and maybe parts of Lahore.

Yet I saw that we should not take in any more immigrants. Let’s upgrade the standard of living of Pakistanis first.

And better option is, Pakistan should provide them enough financial and educational support within Bangladesh via NGOs and embassy. i.e education stipend, build them a dedicate schools, university and residential colonies to uplift their social standing. Once they are successfully integrate into Bangali society and later in govt, they will do good job for Pakistan in future.

This is a good idea once our finances are secured and our economy begins moving in the right direction.

Why do people across South Asian have these crazy thoughts. Pakistan is for them all to come and stay? I been to Arab countries they don’t allow this mass transit arabs into there states. Whose feeding this Pakistan is there’s to come hundred millions of them wanting to come? Take our tv dramas most don’t even reflect my culture. Stupid immoral story lines. Actors and actress look like I’m sorry complete Indians in culture and appearance. F uck

These people know that Pakistan and Pakistanis are soft-hearted for other Muslims’ suffering. We even have Rohingya, Syrian, and Uyghur refugees now.

I also second your comments about our dramas. It does not represent our culture at all. For example, one drama is about an American couple which kidnaps children. What is our media industry doing???

Our drama serials from the 90s were amazing and the best were those which dealt with the common Pakistanis’ issues.

Bangladesh joining Pakistan was a wrong decision it was an unnatural union 2 provinces thousand miles from each other with different languages and culture

Alhamdulilah, everything happened as it should have. I don’t think there was any other way for Pakistan.

More than one COAS, I think Gen. Mirza Aslam Baig was also muhajir. Not just COAS, current president is also from the so called muhajirs. BTW these muhajirs hate Gangadeshis to the core because their ancestors directly experienced the ugly face of these bhindus. And as per the definition, I'm also muhajir since both my maternal and paternal grandparents migrated from the areas that are now part of Gangadesh.

I don’t know if you are referring to Kashmir or Punjab, but I don’t identify those areas with Gangadesh (modern India) Pre-Partition.

Those regions were rightly part of Pakistan and should not have been divided, but unfortunately you had a Hindu Maharaja and sectarian, wicked Sikh leadership which both wanted to see a bloodbath of Muslims.

 

[war&peace]

I don’t know if you are referring to Kashmir or Punjab, but I don’t identify those areas with Gangadesh (modern India) Pre-Partition.

Well, I am not referring to Kashmir because Kashmir is not part of India.. it never was. But I'm talking about other regions including the eastern Punjab and Haryana.

 

[Pan-Islamic-Pakistan]

The neglected 'Bihari' community in Bangladesh
While the international community is focused on the plight of Rohingya refugees, not many in the world are aware of the ordeal of Bihari Muslims who migrated from India in 1947.

https://www.dw.com/en/the-neglected-bihari-community-in-bangladesh/a-50824994





In Bangladesh, a "Bihari" is a common term used for a non-Bengali Muslim who originally belongs to India's eastern state, Bihar.

In 1947, India was divided and Pakistan, a Muslim-majority nation, was created. During the partition, marked by violent communal clashes, many Muslims from Bihar left for East Pakistan, now Bangladesh. In 1971 however, Bangladesh gained independence after a bloody war with Islamabad that was triggered mainly by language and ethnicity issues.

Many Urdu-speaking Biharis, who largely maintained a pro-Pakistani stance during the 1971 war, failed to make their way to Pakistan. Their support for Islamabad caused Bangladeshis to be distrustful of them and consequently, Dhaka did not take any steps to accommodate Biharis into its society.

As a result, hundreds of thousands of members of the community have been stranded in Bangladesh for several decades, sequestered in camps and lacking basic rights.

Read more: Bihari migrants wish for better life in Bangladesh


The 'Geneva' refugee camp in Dhaka houses around 500 Urdu-speaking families

A miserable life

According to local NGOs working for Bihari welfare, around 400,000 members of the community live in camps in Bangladesh. Recent data released by the government of Bangladesh revealed that most Biharis are currently housed in 116 camps in the country's 13 different districts. Of these, the capital Dhaka hosts 100,000 Biharis in 45 settlements.

Houses inside these settlements are separated by a narrow passage hardly one meter wide and often occupied by domestic cattle. Families are crammed into tiny rooms, with little or no privacy for members. Rainy spells often lead to overflowing toilets and flooded paths, and lack of water and poor sanitation make life even more difficult.

Additionally, Biharis are often uneducated and unable to find skilled jobs. "You will not find any Biharis employed in higher positions at government offices because they are not qualified enough," Khalid Hossain, Chief Executive of the Council of Minorities in Bangladesh told DW.

Members of the community are therefore forced to earn their income working as barbers, butchers, rickshaw-pullers, transport workers or automobile mechanics. Children are also forced to work early because their parents have barely any financial means to educate them.

After an order from the Supreme Court in 2008, the government in Dhaka allowed Biharis to be included in the national voters' list. This also enabled them to obtain documents proving their identity. However, most Biharis are not eligible for Bangladeshi passports because they live in temporary settlements and according to the rules, an applicant needs to provide a permanent address for getting a passport.

Biharis left the India in 1947 for East Pakistan, now Bangladesh

"We have been leading an inhuman life, deprived of basic facilities for five decades. Only 5 to 10 percent of us have access to formal education. We want to be able to fulfill our basic needs; we want to see our children going to school," president of the Urdu-speaking Rehabilitation Movement, Sadakat Khan Fakku, told DW.

A chance for integration

Anti-Bangladeshi social stigma is a major concern for the Biharis. Many of them are paying for the previous generation's support for Pakistan during the 1971 war and are still labelled as being against Bangladesh.

"We would like to get a chance to integrate into Bangladeshi society and not remain isolated in camps and bear the brunt of being anti-Bangladeshi," Khalid Hossain, a Muslim Bihari, told DW. He also suggested that the Bangladesh government introduce a quota system in educational institutions and in the public service sector so that his community could overcome poverty and illiteracy.

Meanwhile, the Bangladesh government is mulling a plan to relocate Biharis living in its capital city Dhaka to a nearby area. According to the plan, the government would acquire one thousand acres of land to erect multi-storied buildings in order to house the community. The settlement would be handed over to members in return for a monthly or yearly financial installment.

The plan is in its primary phase and the government is carrying out a feasibility study to assess the extent of its implementation, Shamima Nargis, member of the Physical Infrastructure Division of Bangladesh's Planning Commission told DW.

But Biharis are concerned that the plan would again separate them from society. "Biharis want to be relocated with an opportunity to integrate into the society they live in, not to be shut inside camps," Khalid Hossain said.

Read more: Rohingya militants active in Bangladeshi refugee camps













Watch video04:03
Are militants tightening grip on Rohingya refugee camps?
No repatriation in Pakistan

In 1974, Bangladesh and Pakistan signed an agreement mediated by India to repatriate the Bihari community in Bangladesh. Following the deal, 178,069 Biharis were sent to Pakistan between the years 1973 to 1993, Zaglul Haider, a Bangladeshi researcher at York University, Canada noted.

According to Karachi-based analyst Abdul Sattar, there are several reasons why Pakistan seems to pay meagre attention to accepting Biharis. One reason could be that it has to bear the burden of over a million Afghan refugees fleeing conflict in their country.

Furthermore, the last repatriation of the Biharis in Pakistan in the early 1990s triggered huge protests from the locals of the country's Sindh province. No government in Pakistan has dared to speak of Biharis' repatriation ever since, Sattar said.

Additional reporting by Samir Kumar Dey in Dhaka

Onus is on BD to take care of its own citizens’ rights. Being born in a country entitles you to certain unalienable rights. Present generation should not bear the hate of Bangalis for their ancestors’ loyalties or decisions.

Don’t behave like Indians, who are always filled with anger and loathing. BD people are Muslims, hence should behave better.

Do not do what Burma is doing to Rohingya.

To give you an example, Pakistan gave/offered citizenship and even political inclusion to many groups who had opposed the creation of our nation.

Frontier Gandhi aka Abdul Ghaffar Khan (origin of ANP,) Unionists of Punjab (who opposed Partition and mostly the division of Punjab,) Jamiat Ulema Hind derivation in Pakistan (now represented by Mullah Fazlu.)

It took us a long time to even convince the great scholar Maulana Maududi, who had gotten lost in scholarly debate which prevented him see the big picture. Only after Partition and witnessing the violence did he commend Quaid e Azam and Allama Iqbal.

We took in Muhajirs in large numbers (from BD,) and it wrecked havoc on our society. A few gangsters (namely Altaf Hussain) usurped leadership (by force and bullying) of millions of them and used them to keep Karachi back for decades.

Even now, some groups of MQM are having it difficult to integrate into the larger Pakistani society.

Well, I am not referring to Kashmir because Kashmir is not part of India.. it never was. But I'm talking about other regions including the eastern Punjab and Haryana.

Punjabis are not Muhajirs, we never saw ourselves as foreign. A Punjabi who moves from Amritsar to Lahore is a native of the land.

My ancestors hail from the border regions of Kashmir and Punjab. These were Muslim majority regions which were forcefully depopulated and resettled by Indian mobs and Indian military. This allowed them the route to invade Kashmir.

Ferozepur and Amritsar also were Muslim majority regions, which the British wrongly gave to India.

Some people woke up and found themselves on the wrong side of the border, they had to escape.

All while the Indian government supported roaming death squads of armed Sikhs and Hindus, with their advance knowledge of the borders, were ready to make it a reality.

 

[war&peace]

Punjabis are not Muhajirs, we never saw ourselves as foreign. A Punjabi who moves from Amritsar to Lahore is a native of the land.

My ancestors hail from the border regions of Kashmir and Punjab. These were Muslim majority regions which were forcefully depopulated and resettled by Indian mobs and Indian military. This allowed them the route to invade Kashmir.

Ferozepur and Amritsar also were Muslim majority regions, which the British wrongly gave to India.

Some people woke up and found themselves on the wrong side of the border, they had to escape.

All while the Indian government supported roaming death squads of armed Sikhs and Hindus, with their advance knowledge of the borders, were ready to make it a reality.

Well I'm personally not comfortable with this term "muhajir" because now we are all Pakistanis and in fact these so called "muhajirs" offered bigger sacrifices for the creation of Pakistan than others. And I do not discriminate between any of the group based on some ethnicity..be it Punjabi, Bihari, Assami, Lakhnawi, Hyderabad or Gujjarati..we are all Pakistani. BTW, my grand parents migrated from Indian Punjab.

 

[Realtalk108]

Biharis are a living example of how India tortured and expelled its own citizens and pushed them to other countries for a different religion. Bihari refugees were welcome that time. But I think it was a wrong move to allow whole lot of them as equal citizens over natives, which caused tension and ultimately became reason of breakaway. Bengal wasnt divided that way, to accommodate these large number of people. BDs suffered lot under British but nobody would like to see a new colony with foreign invasion. I think Muhajirs with refugee status with limited benefits was ok, like limited job facilities and voting rights. Exchanging Hindus with Muhajirs, allowing special citizenship to wealthy and educated people. Apart from that, large number of people should be allowed with only basic necessities. I also dont believe large number of BDs also should have voting rights. It should be allowed based on education, taxation, separate voting rights to minorities. If these things were maintained we had a better country.

Oh please. Way more Hindus were expelled from BD than the other way round. Get off your high horse and grant these folks citizenship.

 

[Doctor Strange]

Oh please. Way more Hindus were expelled from BD than the other way round. Get off your high horse and grant these folks citizenship.

These days its not about citizenship. They are already granted citizenship. The matter here is if they are neglected or not You know way more BDs live under poverty and ghetto. So this is nothing special. My previous point was about things should have done under Pakistan time. There were no agreements between the govts to swap population. Hindus should have made under 2 percent of East Pakistan. Way more Bengali Muslims left inside India. What makes the Muhajirs so special to grant citizenship.

 

[Saiful Islam]

Many of these Biharis were not willing to integrate, many did integrate. The socio economic condition has plagued them, like it has to other communities in BD..

This should not be a discussion on BD v PK and the 1971 war..

 

[Flash_Ninja]

This is a very bad idea.

The level of hatred between Pukhtoons and Muhajirs (esp Biharis) would never allow that. Places like Quetta have enough problems, such as that with Hazaras, we shouldn’t add more.

Also being from Faisalabad, I know my city would go into open revolt. Besides Lahore, Punjab is fairly conservative and traditional.

They can only ever be accommodated in Karachi, Hyderabad, Islamabad, and maybe parts of Lahore.

Yet I saw that we should not take in any more immigrants. Let’s upgrade the standard of living of Pakistanis first.

We need to do something to make these cities more diverse than they are, Quetta, and Peshawar might be especially difficult but with competent policing they should be able to integrate with few problems. Pakistanis are above all a welcoming people and when the locals are made to understand what these people went through to become Pakistani they will be much more open-minded.

Is Faisalabad really that bad? even small towns in North Punjab have Afghans and muhajirs settled there and we have no problem with them. I think its dramatic to say that Faisalabad would be in open revolt.

 

[Genghis khan1]

This is a good idea once our finances are secured and our economy begins moving in the right directio

Time has already came and long gone. This stuff is long over due. ReaSon Hasina is going ape sh!t without much resistance cuz someone in Pakistan didn’t do proper foreign policy formation.

 

[bluesky]

I am not talking about military operation
Making east and west Pakistan one country was a wrong decision

You yourself are wrong about what you are saying. People in those days of the Pakistan Movement did not think it wrong to join each other. The union was also needed for each part's security. You must speak with a sound historical perspective. The 1940s was not 1971.

Wrong was not allowing Mujib to form the Pakistan Central Govt in 1971. Everything in 1971 was influenced by that event. PA should have allowed a peaceful separation if the west Pakistani people thought it was a shame to share a country with ugly-looking Bengali Muslims. At least we could remain friends.